arnold 1905 the interpretation of ולודי unknown ם־כרק, hab. 3.4.pdf

8/10/2019 Arnold 1905 The Interpretation of unknown , Hab. 3.4.pdf

1/7

The Interpretation of [[unknown , Hab. 3:4 Author(s): William R. ArnoldSource: The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, Vol. 21, No. 3 (Apr.,1905), pp. 167-172Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/527664.

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2/7

THE

INTERPRETATION

OF

15

i'01'

V-p,

HAB. 3:4.

BY

PROFESSOR

ILLIAM

R.

ARNOLD,

PH.D.,

Andover

Theological

Seminary.

In

his

article

on

the word

"Horn"

in the

Encyclopeadia

Biblica,

Cheyne

says:

The usual

explanation

is

unquestionable

in such

passages

as

the fol-

lowing:

1

Sam.

2:1,

"By

Yahw6

my

horn

is

exalted";

Ps. 89:17

(18),

"By

thy

favor our horn is

exalted";

Ps.

75:4

(5),

"Lift

not

up

your

horn";

Jer.

48:25,

"The horn of Moab is cut off"

(cf.

Lam.

2:3

["He

hath cut off in the heat of anger all the horn of Israel"]). In such pas-

sages

"horn"

symbolizes

power,

and

its

exaltation

signifies

victory

..

and deliverance. .

.

.

.

In

other

passages

it will

not suit.

The

difficult

passages

are: Job

16:15,

'0:p

1Y;

=n5y,

"I

have

thrust

my

horn

into the

dust;"

Amos

6:13,

l

S;i

D'j

p,

"Have

we not

taken

unto

ourselves

horns

?" Exod.

34:29,

30, 35,

'1'

il

p

of

Moses;

Job

42:14,

Job

names

his third

daughter

"-1

'p,

literally,

"Horn

of

stibium;"

and

our

pas-

sage, Hab. 3:4, 1

'"2

C't;'IP.

Of

the

first

passage Cheyne

says:

To "lift

up

thy

horn"

may

be

to

increase

in

power,

or to show

a

proud

sense of

greatness;

but

it

is

hardly

safe

to

maintain,

on

the

ground

of a

single

doubtful

passage,

that "to

thrust

it

into

the

dust"

(Di),

or to "defile it in

the

dust,"

is a

Hebrew

phrase

for

feeling

the

sense of

deepest

humiliation.

In

Hebrew

idiom,

people

"roll in

the

dust"

themselves

(Mic.

1:10)

not

their

"horn." The

remedy

is

to

examine

the

text,

and to see

what errors

the

scribe was most

likely

to

have

committed.

Accordingly

he

would read

".7

'yW

=

"

,

"I

have

profaned

my

glory

in

the

dust."

In Amos

6:13,

with

Gratz,

who

is

fol-

lowed also

by

Wellhausen,

G.

A.

Smith,

and Nowack

(also

now

by

Marti,

Dodekapropheton),

he

renders

Q''

as

a

proper

name,

"Have

we not taken Karnaim?"

In Exod.

34:29, 30,

35,

again,

he

substitutes

for

'p,

p ,

"lightened."

Similarly

in

our

pas-

sage

he would

read

I

'177Z

"pj',

"He had

lightnings coming

out of his hand." Of the name

1'5I p

he

says:

That the term

"horn"

can

be

used

of

a

horn-shaped

vessel is

intel-

ligible

(1

Sam.

16:1,

13;

1

Kings 1:39).

Such

a

phrase

as

"horn

of

pig-

ment for

anointing

the

eyelashes"

is therefore itself

possible.

But was

167

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3/7

168

HEBRAICA

there ever

a

father

in

ancient

legend

who

gave

this

name to his

daughter,

as

Job

is said

to have

done

in MT

of Job 42:14

?

It seems to me that

Cheyne

has done

important

service in

pointing

out substantial difficulties

too

likely

to be

overlooked;

but we

must,

as

usual,

be slow to

adopt

the

drastic remedies

he

suggests.

The

first

recourse

in the

interpretation

of

an

obscure

passage

whose

traditional text

construes without

grammatical

violence is

to

investigate

anew the

meaning

of the words.

The most

difficult,

upon

the

basis

of

the current

interpretation

of

the

word

"horn,"

and so the most

inviting,

is the

passage

Hab.

3:4.

As will be

recalled,

this

verse occurs

in

the

graphic

and

more

or less

anthropomorphic description'

of

the

progress

of

1iK

in

the so-called

Psalm

of

Habakkuk.

Beginning

with vs.

3:

Eloah cometh

rom

Teman,

And

the

Holy

One

from

the mountain

of

Paran;

His

majesty

hath obscured the

heavens,

And

his acclaim

hath

filled

the

earth.

Then

follows

the

verse,

%

:

VT:-"

.

":

.. T

-

There

is,

to

begin

with,

a

difficulty

in the

Massoretic vocaliza-

tion

of the

first clause.

Wellhausen,

who renders

it

"Ein

Glanz

wie

des

Lichtes

war

es,"

admits:

"Nur das Femininum

'

rn

lasst

sich

nicht

erklaren."

In

my

judgment,

it

can be

easily

explained

(Gesenius-Kautzsch, 144c)

by pointing

'M:

and

rendering:

"When he

gleams,

it is as the

daylight."

On the

remainder

of

the

verse the

Arabic

gives

us

help.

Under

the

root

i~

the

Lisan

ul

'Arab

(XVII,

p.

209)

has:

i

of the

ox

and

such like

is

the

horn

(j..;)

and its

plural

is

~

and

it is not otherwise

broken

(has

no other

plural);

and its

place

(the

spot

corresponding

thereto)

on the

head of man is likewise '9.

... And

I

is the forelock

(R..zi),

and

some

limit

its

appli-

cation

to

the

forelock

of

the

woman and to her braid

(*i?.tb),

and

the

plural

is

?

and

b;

.

...

And the

L.

of the man

is the crown

of

the

head

....

(p.

211).

A certain

one

(not Alexander)2

was

called

1"

Mythologisch

stilisirte

Gewitterbeschreibung

"

(Wellhausen).

2

The

Arabs

have

various

explanations

of

the

epithet

as

applied

to Alexander

the

Great

in

Sura

18:

82;

see

the

Lisdn,

XVII, p. 211,

top,

and

NOldeke,

Geschichte

der Koran, p. 106,n.

4.



4/7

THE

INTERPRETATION

OF

*5

171

=Tp,

HAB.

3:4

169

.y

)

because he

had two

locks

that

he

braided

on the two

horns

of

his

head

and et

them

hang

down

JJ

a

..

.

,,

Q+%

.

.

J)

..

.And

you say

a man has two horns

(,

L))

or two braids

(~,l.

)

.

(p. 212).

And said Abu

Sufyan

Bnu Harb

to Ul

'Abbas

Bnu

'Abd il

Mutallib,

what time he beheld the

faithful and their

respectful

demeanor

toward

the

Lord's

apostle--God's

peace

be

upon

him -

and

their

rev-

erence of him

as

he

presided

at

their

prayers,

"I

have

not seen

such

demeanor as this

to-day

among

any

people,

no not

among

the

chivalrous

Persians nor among the Greeks

i

ob

." They are called t)

in

allusion

to the

continuance of their

dominion

from

age

to

age

(y

Ut

.A

-Y);

and

others

say (and

these

are

doubtless

correct)

they

are

so

named

in allusion to the

horns of

their

hair and

their

custom

of

growing

it

long,

for

they

never

cut

it,

and

every

braid

of

the

braids

of

the

hair is

a horn

(L.O

..)

0,1J

'3J.

,~2

)

Lane would seem

not to

have

fully

understood

the

verse

quoted

in

his lexicon under

the

word

I

"I swear that I will not forget one person's loan

Until

my

horns are threaded with white."

The

testimony

of the

Arab

authors is

amply

confirmed

by

first-hand

evidence

as to the modern

Beduin

use of

the

word and

the custom

which

underlies

it.'

Doughty

is

worth

quoting'

(he

is

traveling

among

the tribes in the

vicinity

of

Medain

Salih):

I rode

with

an

acquaintance

to

a

booth

which

stood

upon

the

stony

bank

at

a

hollow

seyl-side,

and

alighted

with a

present

of tittun.

I

found

the

good

housewife

at

home,

her forelock

hanged

braided as

a

horn,

with

a

threaded bead

upon

it--the

manner

in some northwest

districts.

3

Cf.

also

Ibn Hisham,

note on

pp.

186

sq.;

Al

BelAdhuri,

pp.

V

sq.,

and

DeGoeje's

note

on

p.

85;

Wellhausen,

Reste arabischen

Heidentums,

pp.

197

sq., 250;

Jacob,

Das Leben

der

vorislamischen

Beduinen, p.

47.

4

See

Burton,

Pilgrimage

to El

Medina

and

Meccah,

Vol.

II,

p.

81

(with

illustrations).

5

Arabia

Deserta,

Vol.

I,

p.

382.



5/7

170

HEBRAICA

And

p.

469

(still

in

the

vicinity

of

Medain

Salih):

Mishwat

was

sturdy,

but

he

could

not be

master

with

his

wives:

Abdullah's

mother could

so daunt him with

her

tongue

the

other,

a

younger

woman,

had

lately

fled from

him. Mishwat

sighed

manly

when

he

spoke

of

her;

she was

gone

from

her

place

in

the

household,

but

not

out

of his

aching

heart:

"She

is

beautiful,

he said to

me,

she

has

horns

that

reach

down

to her middle

[italics

mine]."

Seldom

or never

have the

nomad

women

very

long

hair,

and it

is

not thick.

Side-locks

are

worn

by

men

at their natural

length:

so it

is said in

praise

of

a

young

man's

fortunate

beauty,

"he has

great

and

long

horns."

Mohammed

Ibn

Rashid,

the Shammar

prince,

hardly

at the middle

age,

is

of less

than

princely

looks, but the Beduins say, commending him, "It is a fair

young

man,

he has

goodly

horns."

Elder men

at

length

renounce this

ornament

of

their

regretted

youth,

but there are

some which

never

do

wear

them.

And

Vol.

II,

p.

220:

These

nomad

hareem

in

Nejd

were

veiled with

a

face-clout,

but

only

from

the

mouth

downward;

they

wore

a

silver

ring

in

the

right nostril,

and

a braided

forelock

hanging upon

the

temples.

In

this

light,

it seems

to

me,

must be

interpreted

the

figurative

language

of

many

Old Testament

passages:

Deut.

33:17;

1

Sam.

2:1,

10;

Jer.

48:25;

Ezek.

29:21;

Micah

4:13;

Zech.

2:4;

Pss.

75:5,

6,

11;

89:18, 25;

112:9;

132:17; 148:14;

Lam.

2:3,

17.

Doubtless

in

some

of

these

passages

the

tropical

use of

"horn"

with

conscious

reference

to

its

original

physical

sense is

not so

prominent,

and

it has

grown

to

be little more than

an

abstract

term for "honor" or "pride." In others, a knowledge of the

original

significance

of

the term

helps

us to

a

better

understand-

ing

of the

text.

Coming

back

to

Job

16:15,

"I

have

thrust

my

horn

in

the

dust"

is

unexceptionable

when understood of

the

forelock. In

42:14

Job

names

his

daughter

"Horn

(i.

e.,

not

"vessel,"

but

"lock,

braid")

of

stibium," or,

as we would

say,

"Raven

Locks."

Amos

6:13,

;'0

?wpmz

b

n:prm:

~

n

W

IZ7

x

a:

MOVp1*. The very general character of the context prohibits

the

assumption

of

a

specific

reference to

two all

but

unknown

towns,

'1

i

of

2

Sam.

9:4,

5,

and

("

'

X)

17:27,

and

Karnain

of 1

Macc.

5:

26,

as

Gratz,

Wellhausen,

G.

A.

Smith,

Nowack,

and

Marti.

In the first

clause,

1?')

0

is

of

course not

"Unding-

Ding,

welches

keine

Realitat

hat,"

as Nowack

represents

the

alternative.

"''

is

not

a

metaphysical,

but

a

colloquial

term,



6/7

THE

INTERPRETATION OF

*5

1'7.

A

~.9i

,

HAB.

3:4

171

meaning

not

"a

substance,"

but "a

matter."

1=

b

is

accord-

ingly

not

"a

thing

without

reality,"

but

"a

matter

of no

impor-

tance;"

as one man

might approach

another with

""

'n,

"Anything

doing?"

answer:

12'1

R,

"Nothing."

Quite

unneces-

sary

difficulty

seems

to

have

been

experienced

in

connection with

this

same

expression

21=

N5

by

all

the

commentators on

1 Sam.

17:29,

R~W1

1

N*1

1r

"-

r

"

T.

The trouble

has resulted

from

the

wrong

construction of

N?

as

attaching

to

the

predication

instead

of,

correctly,

to

the

predicate

"217.

The

sentence

XRi

~R

"2"

is

a

nominal

one,

of which

MR1

s

the

subject

and

N?

1':

the

predicate;

the

interrogative

I

alone

modifies the

predi-

cation

as

a

whole. David

inquires,

not "Is

it

not a

thing

?"

or

"Is it

not

a matter

of

importance?"'

but

"Is

it

nothing

?"-Is

the

service

I

have

rendered

you

nothing

at

all,

that

you

charge

me

with

coming

out of

idle

curiosity

?7

So

in

our

passage

in

Amos,

'1=

R

?

Z

is

properly

rendered,

"Ye

that make

a

fuss

(a

hullabaloo)

over

nothing-;"

and

continuing,

b

'i

=0

WIN

]'Dp

t

Mp

:pT:1

2

"that

say,

Have we not in

our

own

strength

taken unto

ourselves

horns?" that

is,

"risen in

the

world;"

calling

up

the

picture

of

a

strutting

dandy.

op of

Exod.

34:29,

etc.,

is

unquestionably

a

verb

with mean-

ing

"to be

bright,

lustrous,

brilliant;"

but

it

will

hardly

be

denominative,

if

we

may

judge

by

the

analogy

of

Arabic

-),

"horn,"

from

root

,

"to

be

clear,

transparent."

The

Arabs

call amber

.

Finally,

our

passage

in

Habakkuk,

1

11'7Z

V:I'p

should

cer-

tainly

be

interpreted,

"He hath horns

that

reach

below his

hand."

The

omission of the

qualifying

word

(in

this

case

"lower")

on

which

'0

of

17"2

is

logically

dependent,

is

quite

idiomatic.8

The third clause of our

verse now becomes

intelligible:

=Vi

HT. 1

r,

"And there

(that

is,

in

his

long

hair)

is

the

deposi-

6

As H. P.

Smith,

Samuel,

ad

loc.

7

The fact regarding the interpretation of 'Jt b is not altered though we adhere to

the

customary rendering

of

the first

clause

in

1

Sam.

17:29,

r;Wf 'n'"it7

,

as

an inde-

pendent

interrogation,

"What have I

done now?"

But David's

whole

rejoinder

is

much

improved

if

we

construe

JVn

as

a

relative,

"

Ce

que je

viens de

faire,

c'est

rien?

"

There

are

other

passages

in

the Old

Testament

where, contrary

to the current

view,

'i

must

be con-

strued

as a

simple

relative:

1

Sam. 20:

10,

~It

ip

r

l

r

-I

1

n-1-C

I,

"Who

will

notify

me whether

what

thy

father

answers

thee is

unfavorable

?"

So

probably

also

1

Sam.

19:3,

we

should

read

ib

nn

l

it

nI'1,

"And

thou wilt

see

for

thyself

what

I

have

reported

to thee."

And

so

certainly

Hosea

9:14,

Ijnn

1

pt

in

n

8

Cf.

Gesenius-Kautzsch, ?

133e,

and

Gesenius-Brown,

s. v.

It,

6c.



7/7

172

HEBRAICA

tory

of his

strength."

We

are,

of

course,

reminded of

the

story

of

Samson,

whose unshorn braids

(r)1E51

)

were the

mysterious

source of his

supernatural strength.

On the

semi-pronominal

use

of

C3, cf.

Gen.

3:23; 10:14;

1

Kings

17:13;

Ezek.

5:3.

I

am inclined

to

think

that

3~'i In~rY

of

Gen.

14:5 should

be

interpreted

in

the same

way,

as

the

seat

of

"Astarte

of

the

two

braids"-which

accords with the

representation

of the

goddess.

Perhaps

so

also the name

"Saturnus

Balcaranensis"

(V'1p

br=)

of

the

Carthaginian inscriptions.'

Professor Moore has

shown

that there is

no

respectable

manuscript

authority

for

holding

that the Greek of Gen. 14:5 read

n-=iP y

.

9

Otherwise

Moore,

Journal

of

Biblical

Literature,

1897,

pp.

155

sq.

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